cellar dwelling

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Not really my stories to tell, I suppose because I was not there for them.. but to remember and help remind the people who were involved- I will record the story I was told.

background info: The new school the girls go to is a Catholic school- one of the best private schools in the area. They have a lot to offer education-wise and do not force the bible studies on the students... or so the parents are told, anyway.

So- just two quick stories-

the other day at the neighborhood park, the girls were having a play date with their friend 'N'. Ns household is very open for questions and learning of all things; they introduce human anatomy, how babies are made and different religious ideas through books and communication (many questions arise- so lots of conversation!). It is a wonderful thing, I think, and proves to be a positive aspect in areas of Ns development. That being said, he is very curious about various things; God's, heaven, the idea of Noah's Arc, etc. are all possible topics that may occur on any given day. So combine N's curiosity with the girls new found Catholic education and what happens? Wellllllll.. their parents found them all sitting in a circle inside the sandbox- when approached the kids seemed spooked, as if they were totally just busted doing something bad. But, no no- nothing wrong or bad here.. instead-

"we were having prayer. Its a circle of all of us so we can pray to Gods. We are praying to Ganesh, Jesus and the Holy Spirit."
________________________________

The next story is of the same manner- the girls are learning about things like 'treat others how you want to be treated' but through ways of the Lord. So, the other day at breakfast the girls were picking granola bars to put into their lunch bags for snack time at school- M got the last 'favorite' granola bar and A was a little sad... M says..
"hey! A! Its okay- if you do not like the kind of bar you got, I will share half of mine with you at snack"
A responds, "Wow thanks M!"
M- "yeah, thats being Jesus. Your welcome."

here are a few moments in the past few weeks (ahem month or more..) that have stayed with me & I wish to continue keeping them in my memories.. SO, here we go

About a month back the girls had gone on a few vacations- being allowed to either sleep on couches or in their parents room, etc- their sleep schedule/routine was all screwy. To help with the evening fears we have them listen to music- I personally love this trick as I used it when I was little (Thanks mom! Sometimes I wish I had my 'sebastian the crab' reggae to sooth me to sleep, ha!) Anyway- I had this CD I used when working at one of my various child care/ teaching positions in NH; we used it for nap time and it worked like gang busters. Seriously- if we started it at lunch kids would be dropping like flies left and right before they even finished their turkey sandwiches! SO figured it wouldnt hurt to give the girls this CD and let them know how awesome it was/tell stories to go with it for them to think about. They are very imaginative and really like hearing peoples real-life stories over and over [and OVER..] again. They often build off peoples various stories when they are doing their 'twin game' dramatic play time, very funny to listen to..

SO this is a long story to tell the very sweet and touching punch line here- so I will just cut to it finally...
after listening to the CD for a few nights 'A' one morning at breakfast very sweetly confesses to me
"hey haley- the other night when we were going to sleep, we wanted to listen to the CD so, I got up and started the music. It was so strange, when the first song started my eyes got all wet like they were crying because... because I think I missed you?"

UM. MY EYES almost cried at that. Muffinpantslovekins!

Next stories are from my day today (9/6/11). let me start off by saying, once again, my job ROCKS!!!

Today I picked the girls up at kindergarten- oh yeah, they are big girls now.. at school, in uni's and everything... cannot believe it!! So anyway- picked them up from school and did the whole lunch & chat, read a book-type stuff. THEN we built harry potter lego sets for approximately 2 hours.. followed by an enjoyable sunny afternoon spent at Seward Park. Mt rainier was showing today- due to the sunny, clear skies YAY.. as we pull into the park we see Mt. Rainier in all of its glory..

M says - 'look how awesome it is! its like the king.. and.. and.. all the tiny hills around it are the guards!"
I love how their minds work. So fun!

After that we took the bikes around the 2.5mile path along the water, stopping along the way to climb fallen down trees, check out historical huts, and.. oh yes.. go for a swim in our underwear. And yes, I said OUR underwear.. I joined, duh. It was a hot day, I was chasing after these speedy girls- ON FOOT- and well, why the heck would I NOT get in the water. If there is one way to teach a couple of girls 'no fear' or not to care about 'body image' it is to strip to your skivvies and hop in the water, too.

Best part of all of this- when telling my bosses (their parents) that we all went swimming, my initial concern was that, maybe I should not have been in my underwear..? My concern met with the response, "hey its seattle- people run around naked in some areas of town. No big deal"

Love this place.

The girls, too loved this experience. We were swimming with ducks! Paddling around after climbing down some serious ladders off a cool looking (tall) dock- they kept shouting "this is the BEST!" and "I love this day!!" man, if there is one way to bring up someones spirits- it is to have this kind of day. Not that mine are low- Im just sayin.. anyone out there in need of a good pick me up, I highly recommend this as your remedy.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

I often find myself wondering if I really should be working with children; some of the things they say.. my mind wanders to another place, ahem and not the most PG of places.

A few examples of the side splitting [for me] stuff I hear on a daily basis:

Babysitting for a favorite family of mine here in Seattle, my little buddy "P" was driving a dump truck with blocks in it all around the floor. He asked me to pose as a bridge.. as I climb into position on all fours, acting as said bridge, he shouts "Ok.. STAY STILL! He's going to lose his load RIGHT under you!" The combination of the position I was in, the manner he shouted and the words that came out of his mouth sent me into a serious laughing fit.

Today-
My girls were having a play date with a friend, one of their favorite friends "E"...

Everyone was out back running around, climbing into the tree house, playing in the cardboard box car we created and having a great time. Enter- Mr. squirrel... today's villain; Mr. Squirrel was high in a tree above the tree house chewing on things to create his nest that we found. No one wanted him up there because he was being a "noisy eater" and making "crazy sounds"- as I was informed. I was asked to participate in the scaring away process where we all started hissing at the same time (M's idea).. it worked for a second- Mr. Squirrel went up a few branches higher to get further away from us. This is when M decided to really go for it- she wanted to scare him out of his wits and get him to shoo away. Before doing a loud screaming, clapping, stomping dance in the tree house to scare Mr. Squirrel she loudly declared...

"IM GONNA MAKE HIM DROP A NUT!!!"

That, my friends, is one reason I stay in my line of work. The small moments of joy that come from my very innocent little friends shouting things that trigger laughter from my sick mind. It's all just too good sometimes, I cannot help but laugh.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

'A' spilled water on herself at our picnic lunch right before school.. with no time to change her pants, she says "aww man- but it looks like i peed my pants!" My immediate and more importantly, OUTLOUD response.. "peeing your pants is cool!" Eeesh. Apparently my filter disappears with lack of sleep allowing random movie quotes all willy-nilly. If you could have seen the look on her face. Pure shock and horror. I tried to explain it was from a movie, but she did not believe me....

we will see in the next few days if this whole thing will resurface. Typically with a misunderstanding as such, the girls will taunt and/or question me... I foresee many diaper, mini potty and 'peepee dance' jokes in my future.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

turns out the girls thought my GPS, also known as Mandy, was a real person giving us directions. Molly claims Mandy got us lost last week because she must have been asleep or listening to her Ipod and just didn't know what was happening..

M: she must have been sleeping when we went over that bridge, and that's why we got lost! Or maybe she was listening to her Ipod- she didn't know what was even happening

I tried to explain that Mandy was just a voice/ computer... though I really did not want to ruin this image she had going. Instead of grasping what I was explaining, she took back to her idea and said..

M: I think we should give her another try!
me: M, I think I need to update her- the roads around here have changed.
M: so what does that mean?
me: well, I will need to hook her up to my computer and let some new information be put into the GPS- so if there are any more new routes or roads, we wont get lost again.
M: I reallllllllly much think she was just sleeping. Lets try her again..
(side note- the girls say "really much" when they want to put emphasis on something- its too cute to correct.)

Another great conversation we had:

While visiting their Mom @ UW- we got into a discussion about Mascots; what they are, who has them, why- and so on. 'A' decided her mascot would HAVE to be "A spider man- but not THE Spiderman". 'M' said hers would be "Man on a motorcycle"- They then decided mine would be a mountain man, I believe because they know I love mountain views so much? I mean.. I cannot remember ever telling them that rugged-dark and handsome-mountain-men, are totally my type? Hmm, yeah.. I just don't think that is a conversation that would have come up.

I will now leave you with a random picture of one of the 1200 children I watch during the week-

Friday, April 1, 2011

Oh hello.. self.
A new favorite thing to do (for the girls).. talk to "self". they get a huge, huge kick out of it..

This has been a crazy, crazy week. After working with anywhere from one to six children at any given time (ages 4months to 6years old).. 60hrs this week.. alone.. I think its safe to say I enjoy my job- but this week my bank account loved it more. It was one of those weeks where going the extra mile, didn't cut it- the girls were a little sick, definitely tired.. maybe growth spurting, who knows. All i know is double trouble is but just one way to describe them. Luckily, they are stinkin' cute & make me laugh so hard I almost pee my pants.

Today, one of the fun 'distraction' things we did was "Would you rather" game... here are a few examples of things my little friends asked-

"would you rather.. sit in the rain, with underwear on your head.. or drive with slimy frogs filled up in your car.. to the MOUNTAINS!?" (meaning far away)

"Would you rather- live in a house of dog poo, or EAT dog poo one time?"

"would you rather eat marshmallows in ketchup, or sweet potatoes in chocolate"

Pretty solid, right? There were many, many of these type questions- but these are the only ones I could remember. Pretty fun.

Other great things from today-
One of M's knock knock jokes (I had never heard- maybe you have?)

OH- something I have never been asked- - "do you like being naked?" was a topic of conversation at lunch today. I said, hmm- in private, yes sometimes. They said "we like to be naked. Try doing the booty dance naked! It is so funny- it makes it more fun!" You know I have to do that next time I get out of the shower now.... you will, too. Don't lie.

I wish I could remember all the great, funny, amazing things from today- God knows after this week.. I NEED to remember the good times. If I think of anything else, I will post it (mostly for SELF, ha..)
Anyway- Happy Friday!

A few pictures to close out the post:

from left to right- "leader girl with pom-poms, an Indian that says nothing, Captain Jack Sparrow ARG! and Monster guy on a bike!"= the chant created to go along w. the marching, of course!

our "Parade" one day- [[phewf, only four kids this day..HA]]

I wish I got a 'before' picture. This picture is after clean up..

You know the stories when you turn your back for one second, then suddenly find your child either running around the house with a full roll of unrolled toilet paper... or covered head to toe in flour? This was similar, but smelly & not-so-great for the pride. Both girls came to me, heads hung low, saying "Haley.. I think we stink at this" after having snuck off, one at a time, to take a whack at painting their own nails. Pink and peach finger prints, smudge marks and wet dot drips coovveerrredd each hand. It did smell- though, they did not 'stink' at it. I was pretty impressed w. how well they could paint their weak hand.. shoot, I am in my 20's and have a hard time painting my right hand Still!